Our Week in Pictures

OK friends, I know I’ve been SUPER wordy on here lately with my 31 days posts, so today I’m giving you a break and sharing a bunch of pictures from our week.

On Monday since it was a holiday and GORGEOUS outside, we went with some friends to a Corn Maze, it was great but WAY too crowded ~ note to self ~ do not attempt the corn maze on a holiday again!

I have been trying to be intentional about getting IN the pictures more lately … but we got home from the maze and I realized I wasn’t in any of them, so I made hubby snap a picture of the girls and I. See, I WAS there that day!

When we got home I took Hope to soccer practice where I walked with my friend for an hour while the kids practiced. Bob took Joy to swimming, then we all came home for supper time. After supper Bob and I tackled cleaning the nasty garage until about 9pm.

On Tuesday the girls wrote poems after learning about Edgar Allen Poe, then they read them aloud for us. I was impressed!

Lately my daily plan is written on our white board, it helps us ALL know what’s next and what to expect for the day.

I’ve added a few fall touches around the house …

We spent a lovely afternoon outside on Tuesday, I decided to take my camera around the yard and find some beauty, don’t want to miss it before it’s all gone and winter is here with it’s blah colors and cold temps!

The girls made up scavenger hunts for each other and then had to come back and show what they had found.

Enjoying my new swing while the girls play. Again, trying to be IN the pictures more.

I changed my mantel for fall, sorry about the picture quality. I realized pretty much all my fall decor is pumpkin related – which I don’t necessarily love, but I will be content and know that there are women in homes all over the world who have no mantel or fall decor at all. So I’m thankful for what I have and managed to arrange it so it looks okay. I also sewed some new pillow covers for my living room pillows to bring them out of the cool summer look and into the warm fall look. Again, grateful for the fabric and means to do this kind of thing.

We had Spicy Chicken soup again – this is my new fave soup recipe! We had it with Jiffy corn muffins, I am ALL about semi homemade around here!

My morning reads lately …

A Wednesday plan – the girls sometimes spend the afternoon with my in laws. They do an art lesson with my Father in law. Then they go to Praise Kids and Awana at church. I had the afternoon to myself and went for a run for the first time in ages and I’m pretty sure my muscles are STILL sore, 3 days later! I also sat and watched DWTS, just enjoying the peace and quiet.

The girls are doing wonderful with Total Language Plus this year! Each day they have several ‘tasks’ they must complete that are all related to Language Arts. I decided to make them into lists and have them laminated so the girls could use white board markers on them each day to cross off their tasks as they finished them. So far it’s working wonderfully!

On Thursday we visited with our dear friends who are moving all the way to Kentucky! It was our last visit with them and so sad. I’m just thankful they still have family in the area so we know they’ll be back to visit.

On Friday I did a DEEP cleaning …and uh, I was GROSSED out to discover just how much dust and grime was on my curtain rods, framed pictures, window frames, curtains, etc. It took me a long time to clean just the kitchen and dining room. I think I need to make a plan so every month I tackle at least a room or two. It was seriously nasty and I really don’t want it to get that bad again!

On Friday night we made homemade pizzas, watched The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and then made cookies and homemade ice cream. It was a fun and relaxing night.

All in all it was a fun and busy week. =) How was YOUR week? 

{Day 15} Who are you surrounded by?

Yesterday I talked about many of my failures as a Mom and what I began to pray and read in my quest to become a positive Mom. Today I want to focus on the people you surround yourself with.

I’m sure it’s no big surprise that we tend to choose friends who are similar to us. We may share similar personalities, hobbies or taste. I’ve often laughed at times when I’ve realized that my friend Sarah in North Carolina and I both have the same exact flip flops from Target – even though we don’t live near each other, or see each other often, we often choose the same things. Another example happened this year when I met a new friend and was thrilled to learn that she too was a homeschool Mom. We also found out that we both enjoyed scrapbooking and then I laughed in delight when looking through her scrapbooks when I saw that she had used a lot of the same papers and stickers that I had in my albums! I like to joke that ‘great minds think alike’, but honestly I just think it’s neat how we are drawn to friends who are just like us.

In our quest to become JOYful Moms and wives, it’s important to surround ourselves with other women who are positive and joyful too.

If we surround ourselves with women who constantly bash their husbands, it’s so easy to begin thinking negatively about our own husband. If we hang out with Moms who are always complaining about their kids, we will start doing the same about our kids. It’s just a fact of life, we become the kind of people that we hang around.

I’m not saying that we have to be exclusive though. I’m not suggesting that we can’t be friends with non-Christians, or women who are different than us. God can use us in mighty ways to influence others around us and we must be open to those opportunities. But in general, keep company with other women who share your love for the Lord and your passion for being a joyful wife and Mom.

Today’s challenge is:

Take some time to think about your friends. If it helps, make a list. You could group them as best friends, close friends and acquaintances. Now try to think about the personalities of these women. Are they building you up and encouraging you in your quest to be joyful? Are they dragging you down? And how about you – are YOU the kind of friend who encourages others? Maybe you could ask your friends, “what could I do to be a better friend to you?” Pray for your friends. Pray that they would know the Lord and would grow in their faith. Pray that together you and your friends can be a group of women who encourage others and shine the Lord’s light wherever you go.

And of course, how could I not include the classic ‘Friends’ song by Micheal W. Smith. =)

{Day 14} The Power of a Positive Mom

 

WOW, it’s day 14 already and I can hardly believe we’re quickly approaching the halfway mark! I admitted to a friend the other day that I decided to write these 31 days posts at the very last minute and during the first couple of days I started to feel a little panicky that I wouldn’t have enough to write about for 31 days. I found myself thinking I’d have to drop out halfway through and then feel silly for not completing the month! Hahaha, well little did I know I was so long winded after all!

Anyhow, if you haven’t been here before I am taking the month of October to join The Nester and about 700 other bloggers in posting a 31 day challenge. My month is all about 31 Days to Becoming a JOYful Wife and Mother. In the past 2 weeks we’ve talked mostly about being a joyful wife.

I had the opportunity to give a 10 minute talk at our MOMS group at church last week and my topic was about The Power of a Positive Mom based on the book by Karol Ladd.

I know I’ve shared some of my story before, but in case you’re new here I want to share just a bit again. I love and adore my two girls dearly, I really and truly do. But I wasn’t always a joyful or positive Mom to them.

I mentioned a couple days ago that they are pretty close together – only 17 months to be exact. So when they were little things were a little overwhelming to me. I also have a lot of perfectionist tendencies in my personality which is tough when you have little ones. As we all know babies and toddlers don’t always sleep when we want them to, eat what we want them to, or behave the way we’d like them to. All of those things just frustrated and aggravated me. I was often a Mom who yelled and screamed at my girls in anger or frustration.

Was my whole journey of Motherhood like this? No, of course not. I DID enjoy my girls, I DID many fun things with them, I DID love them to pieces. But there were so many times when my Monster Mommy alter ego would come out and just lose it on my kids.

Part of my issue was I wanted to be in control. More than anything I wanted my kids to do what I asked, when I asked and with a happy heart {thankyouverymuch!}. When they would not listen, or would disobey or would want to make choices of their own, I just wouldn’t handle it well.

Around that time I came across some wonderful books that were an incredible encouragement to my heart. One of them was called Mom and Loving It by Sharon Lovejoy Autry & Laurie Lovejoy Hilliard and the other one was called The Power of a Positive Mom by Karol Ladd. I also read a verse at that time which was Proverbs 14:1 “A wise woman builds her house, but the foolish one tears hers down with her own hands.” And when I read that verse, the book I was reading at the time {which I can’t remember, sorry!} said that a foolish woman tore her house down by over scheduling, being too busy to pray and screaming demands at her children. WOW, was that ever a wake up call for me. I felt like I was looking at the foolish woman in the mirror and it wasn’t pretty. I also remember a day that I had screamed at my oldest daughter and clearly remember that I made a very mean, nasty face toward her as I screamed. She of course erupted in tears and I walked away, went to my room and made the face to myself in the mirror that I had just made to her – when I saw how horribly mean and nasty and awful it was I cried too! I couldn’t believe I was treating my children like a monster! I began to wonder and worry if their memories of me would be me being mean and nasty to them when I wanted them to do things. I felt like I was in a pit and couldn't get out on my own.

At that time I decided I needed to pray to the Lord EVERY day that He would deliver me from being that foolish woman. I prayed that when I was ready to scream, that instead I would stop and pray or remove myself to the other room until I could handle things calmly. Slowly, over time my prayers were answered. I became more patient, I found out I could parent without screaming. I could discipline and train and teach but still be in control. I couldn't do it alone, but with HIS strength, I could!

When I spoke at MOMS on Friday a friend came up to me afterward and said ‘I never would have thought that you struggled with this because you always seem so positive.’ And that’s only because HE has changed me and helped me over the past several years. I’m still not perfect and never will be, I still have times when I lose my patience and get upset, but I try to remain calm and keep control and pray!

So I guess my point in all this is to encourage anyone who might be going through something similar. Parenting is one of the toughest, and yet most rewarding jobs there is! We need daily strength that only our Heavenly Father can give. We need to stay on our knees for our kids and for ourselves!

Today’s challenge is:

Are you struggling to find joy in your parenting? If you are, don’t do it alone. First, PRAY every single day that the Lord will fill your heart with JOY for this calling He’s given to you. He did not mess up in choosing you to be the Mom to these kids! He KNOWS you can do it, but that you need to rely on HIM for the strength and wisdom to do it. He WILL give you JOY overflowing if you commit your ways to Him and give it your all. Also, find a prayer partner or trusted friend that you can share with. Make sure it’s someone you can trust to pray for you, but not gossip about you behind your back. Pray with that friend, be honest with your friend about your struggles, encourage one another, help one another out. And if you like to read, I can’t say enough good things about these two books:

The Power of a Positive Mom by Karol Ladd

Mom and Loving It! by Sharon Lovejoy Autry & Laurie Lovejoy Hilliard

{Day 13} Miscommunication

We talked about communication, but I think another important topic is miscommunication. After all, isn’t that the source of many arguments and fights in marriage?

Many times we simply wish our husbands could read our minds and that they should just KNOW what we want them to do, or not to do. But we all know that God didn’t give us the ability to read minds so many times miscommunication results.

Miscommunication can be as simple as – he thought you wanted him to pick up cheddar cheese, but what you actually wanted was cream cheese for that recipe you were trying to make. Or it could be as complicated as – you thought when he said that lady looked nice that he was actually checking her out, wished he was married to her and not you, and thought she was far prettier than you – when all he really meant was he thought the lady was well put together, nothing more complicated than that.

I realize these examples are kind of goofy, but honestly my brain can’t think of better ones right now. The fact is that almost daily there are times when miscommunication happens {or has the potential to happen}. Sometimes I simply don’t hear my husband correctly, sometimes I hear him, but misread the tone of his voice, sometimes I hear him but don’t like what he’s saying and just disagree with his point wholeheartedly.

No matter how we miscommunicate  with each other, the biggest thing is how we handle it. Do we handle it with anger or rage? Do we patiently try to get to the bottom of things? Do we assume the worst and cook up all kinds of crazy scenarios and negative thoughts in our minds? {I tend to do the latter more often than naught!}

Let’s look at what God’s Word says about how we should handle these types of things.

^{James 1:19-20 says:  19} My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, ²⁰ because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.

^{Proverbs 15:1 says: 1} A gentle answer turns away wrath,
   but a harsh word stirs up anger.

^{Colossians 3: 13-14 says: 13} Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴ And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

I think of all of these instructions, the first verse has one of the most profound statements in situations like these. “Everyone should be QUICK TO LISTEN, SLOW TO SPEAK and SLOW TO BECOME ANGRY” – wow, what if every time we got into an argument or disagreement with our spouse we took a step back and practiced those 3 things. What if we chose to hear the other person’s point [really hear, without interrupting], thought carefully before we responded, and made sure we kept our anger and tone of voice in check when we did respond. Can you picture your disagreements going a lot differently if those 3 things took place?! I can! Especially since most of my argument is crazy ideas I’ve cooked up in my own head!

Today’s challenge is:

The next time you have a miscommunication with your spouse, no matter how large or how small of an issue it is – take a few minutes to stop and practice the words of James 1:19. If you need to, tell your spouse you need a few minutes alone and separate yourself for a time. Spend that time in prayer over the situation and that the Lord will give you ears to hear your spouse and clarity to see the situation for what it really is and not what you’ve built it up in your mind to be.

I also have a couple of books/studies that I would HIGHLY recommend. No matter if you’ve been married one year or ten years – these are great books about marriage.

 Love and Respect by Emerson Eggerichs

The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman

The Love Dare by Steven & Alex Kendrick

For Women Only and For Men Only by Shaunti & Jeff Feldhahn

A Wife After God’s Own Heart by Elizabeth George

 The Joy of a Promise Kept by the wives of 12 Christian leaders

and also the movie Fireproof

{I have also heard that the new movie Courageous is a great one for husbands but haven’t seen it myself yet.}

The point is, there are MANY resources out there on having a Godly, JOYFUL marriage!

Looky here!

I won a giveaway! Woohoo!

You have to love when packages come in the mail … especially when they come directly from BAKERELLA!!!

And look what I won, oh how fun! The Cake Pops book by Bakerella!

I also won the new Balcony Girls 2 e-book! I’m so excited to use it with our Balcony Girls this spring.

A great big thank you to Sandy from The Reluctant Entertainer for this amazing giveaway. I’m a big fan of Sandy’s blog and love the way she shares the Lord through hospitality and leading the Balcony Girls groups.

{Day 12} Sharing the Load

Hello friends! OK, I’m back and feeling SO much better tonight. I don’t know why my body does this, but at certain times when I’m very tired and worn out I literally start to feel like I am going to throw up. I get pain in my stomach, that yucky nauseous feeling, chills, pounding headaches, etc. So yesterday I think I may have overdone it and suddenly when I finally sat down at the end of the evening I got that whole yucky feeling again. That’s why my post for today was super quick. I like to write the posts the night before when I have more time to think and write and unfortunately it just hit me like a load of bricks last night so I couldn't write much! The weird thing is that every time this happens to me, I go to bed and wake up the next day totally fine. It’s like a temporary flu that’s just telling me ‘you need to get some sleep!’ Weird, huh?

Anyway, let’s move on! I just want to make sure that it’s totally, completely clear that I do NOT have a perfect life or marriage, nor am I the perfect Mom. I hope that’s a given, but would never want anyone to think that because I’ve chosen to write about all this, that I for one second think I’ve got it all figured out – because I definitely don’t! Trust me! =)

So, today I want to focus on sharing the load. I realize this could be a very heated discussion depending on your views of who should take care of which responsibilities in the home. Many people would say that a stay at home Mom should do everything related to the home, cooking and caring for the kids. Someone with a more liberal view would say that men and women should share all jobs and none should be gender specific. I’m simply going to share what we do, and why it works for us. Please don’t think I’m saying this is what everyone must do in their homes.

Now, let’s back up just a bit. I feel like you can tell so much about a man by the way he treats his mother, can I get an Amen?! I also think you can tell a lot about him by the way he is raised. Was he raised by a Mom who doted on his every need? Was he taught to be helpful around the house? Did he go to college knowing how to do his own laundry? Does he know how to cook a few simple meals? Things like this will give you a glimpse into the way he will be around your home too.

I personally am BLESSED. I would say lucky, but there’s no luck involved here, I’m simply blessed by the Lord with a husband who loves and respects his Mother, is a willing helper around the house, and not only knows how to cook but loves doing it.

In our early years of marriage we both worked full time jobs. I believe those were the years when our work-sharing began. Because we both worked full time, we both also helped do things around the house. We would both do dishes together, both throw a load of laundry in, both help rake the yard, etc. Yes, there were some things that he always tended to and yes, there were some things I always tended to. But overall, we shared much of the work and it worked wonderfully for us.

Then I had a baby and became a stay at home Mom. Did Bob suddenly become a different person who no longer helped with laundry or dishes simply because I was home full time? No, he didn’t. He could have, because the truth was I WAS home full time – but at that point he couldn't really change who he was. He was used to doing those things and being helpful and he just continued to do so. There were some things he couldn’t do – like nursing a baby at 3am. Or some things I may have done more of – like changing yucky diapers. But he continued to be helpful to me around the home – which for those of you with new or young babies know - it’s so wonderful!

Then I had another baby – only 17 mos later. We had two in cribs and 2 in diapers and things were a little crazy for a while. Again, he helped wherever and whenever he could. And he worked the evening shift, so he got to miss out on the ‘witching hour’ of dinner, baths and bedtime when little ones tended to get pretty cranky. ;)

Things are a little bit different now, but in some ways nothing has changed. I still stay home with my girls, who are now 10 & 8. But I also homeschool them, which in many ways is like a full time job in itself. My husband still works outside the home, but is blessed to have a great job where he doesn’t have a lot of hours and never brings the job home with him. So what does he do in those spare hours? He helps me, he exercises, he sometimes goes fishing or enjoys other hobbies, but he’s always on the go. Most days when he’s getting ready to head out to do stuff he’ll ask if I need anything – like if I need him to run to the post office, or drop books at the library, or pick up some milk. It’s so helpful so we can just do school and not worry about those things.

Now that the girls are a bit older they also help around the house. It’s literally a team effort around here. We all do chores, we all help with meals, we all help with errands, etc. We’re all part of this family and sharing responsibilities is just natural for us. As a homeschooling Mom, I sometimes struggle to find balance in ‘getting it all done’. Keeping up with doing school, keeping the house clean, taking the girls to sports and activities, being involved in ministry at church, etc – all those things require much of me. And having a husband who is willing to step in and say ‘hey, how can I help?’ blesses my heart on a daily basis. Some days that means he will run some errands for me, so I can focus on school with the girls. Some days that means he cleans up the dishes at the end of a night because I’m exhausted. There are so many examples of him being helpful to me.

There are still some things that are sort of split up though – for instance, he typically handles most of the outdoor work {mowing the lawn, taking care of the pool, etc}. And I have always done things like cleaning the bathrooms {toilets!}, washing windows, cleaning floors, etc. But then there are those times when we come together and tackle the big things together – like yesterday when we cleaned out our entire {nasty} garage, which took HOURS and was super disgusting. But it was such a great feeling of accomplishment and something we did together. We also love to do fall clean-up and raking all together, or snow plowing & shoveling all together. Those things are actually a lot of fun to do together as a family!

OK, so this is getting super long winded which was not my intent. But anyhow, I think you get the point.

Today’s challenge:

Figure out who is doing what around your home. Are there things you could be doing together, jobs you could be sharing? And if your husband already has a huge workload or long hours, what are some things you could do for him – what would really bless him? For my hubby, he hates coming home to a stinky sink full of dirty dishes – so I’ve learned to try to get those cleaned up or put away before he comes home. Just a small little thing, but it makes our home much nicer for him to come home to. What could you do that would bless your husband? Iron his shirts for work? Make his lunch? I’d be willing to bet that the more you reach out and help him and bless him – he will begin to reciprocate and help you too! And if he doesn’t, and you’re really maxed out and stressed, just ask him {nicely!} if he could lend a hand. =)

{Day 11} On the not-so-sunny days

It goes without saying that life is full of ups and downs. Sometimes I start to think things are finally starting to smooth out and then BAM! some sort of crisis type situation always seems to happen. It could be something with a friend or family member, or it could be directly related to my own little family – but without fail there are not-so-sunny days in every person’s life.

There is SO much I could say about this, but what I really want to get across is that we can choose to allow those not so sunny days to drive our marriages apart – or we can choose to allow those days to bring us closer together. When crisis strikes, no matter how small or big, we need to remain as one with our spouse. Taking the time to pray together over the situation, communicating even more than normal and just being extra patient and understanding of each other can all help a lot when going through crisis times.

I want to share a fun little song from Josh Wilson. I went to an amazing concert last night with Steven Curtis Chapman, Andrew Peterson and Josh Wilson {I will post about that soon}, but anyhow, he played this song and I just LOVED it! He and his wife have only been married 2 yrs and he wrote this after the first year of marriage. But especially for those of us who’ve been married a lot longer than that, I just thought it was super cute and applicable.

 

Today’s Challenge: Choose to “love him always, even on the not so sunny days.” Not too complicated, right? I hope you like the song as much as I did. ;)

{{Sorry, I’m keeping it pretty short and sweet tonight, just not feeling too good right now so I’ll write more tomorrow. Thanks for understanding!}}

{Day 10} Play Together!

Hello friends! Happy Columbus Day to my American friends and family and Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian friends and family! {Bet ya didn’t know that I am half Canadian - was born in Canada and lived there till I was 14, huh?}

Today we’re going to continue talking about ways to become a joyful wife. For those of you who would rather hear about being a joyful Mother, don't worry, I WILL get to those posts. But I honestly feel that our priorities need to be 1. God 2. Spouse and then 3. Kids. Sorry if that doesn’t seem right to anyone because they feel they’re kids should be number 1, but honestly that is the plan that God wants us to follow. So we’ll continue with building that joyful relationship with our spouse first, then get to the posts on mothering.

Let’s talk about playing together. And no, I don't mean the intimacy type stuff, we already went over that, right?! I mean like hobbies and having fun doing stuff together. It’s so easy to get into ruts in our marriages, isn’t it? I mean we’ve all got bills to pay, houses to take care of, jobs to go to, kids to raise, responsibilities galore and the list goes on and on. If we don’t throw a little fun in there sometimes it can feel like life is just one big long chore.

{hiking}

{archery}

What are some fun things we did BEFORE we had kids?

*going on cruises

*hiking, biking, camping

*skiing – both water and snow

*celebrating holidays with BBQ’s with friends or family

*boating/going to the beach

*playing board games together

*going on vacations

We basically did almost everything together. We both had full time jobs, and for a long time even had weird hours like 8pm-4am – but one thing we did is we always tried to be on the same or similar shift as each other and also tried to have the same days off as each other. Sometimes that meant we had Tuesdays and Wednesdays off, but that was OK as long as we both had those days off. So on our time off or on those days when we worked late at night, we would spent our time doing things together. On our ‘weekend’ we’d take spontaneous trips to go skiing in winter or camping in summer. {Obviously we had more money to spare then with two incomes and no kids!}

{hiking}

{beach / boogie boarding}

Now that we have kids things have definitely changed – but the biggest thing is the finances, NOT the time spent doing things together. We STILL do a lot of those same things together, just maybe a little less, with a little more planning and obviously a little different with kids.

{running/walking a 5k together}

{beach and fishing}

I realize that budgets are a HUGE factor in taking cruises, vacations and ski trips – like I said, our trips have been cut back a lot since our pre-kid days. But we still find ways to do fun things together. Some things we do WITH our kids, teaching them to love camping, hiking, biking and things like that. And other times we do things just the two of us – like hiking to the top of a mountain while my in laws watched the girls {which happens to be FREE in case you’re wondering, and even though it’s hard work, it’s an AMAZING experience!} We also still love the beach and go as often as we can in the summer – also FREE! Our kids now love the beach as much as we do. This summer one of my favorite little ‘dates’ Bob and I went on was an afternoon when the girls were at Grandma’s house and Bob spontaneously asked me if I wanted to go to the beach with him. So I put all my chores aside and we went. We had a really nice, relaxing time together and even got ice cream on the way home! A cheap, fun, date together.

{mini golf}

{vacation to Myrtle Beach}

{rollerblading}

{camping, playing board games}

Now, I have to add here that Bob and I also do things separate at times, and that’s OK. He will usually go skiing or golfing with his friends a few times a year and I have also gone on weekends away without him like when I went to a Ladies Retreat at Camp, or to Women of Faith or to a scrapbook weekend with my girlfriends. It’s OK to do some hobbies and activities separate from each other. You need to have space at times and it’s fine if your hubby doesn’t enjoy scrapbooking and you don't enjoy golf! BUT, just don’t forget to plan some fun things that you DO together as well.

{walking on the beach/fishing}

{hiking in New Hampshire}

 

{campfires with friends}

{sunset picnics at the beach}

{watching the fireworks together}

Today’s challenge is:

What have you done with your spouse lately? I mean, besides washing dishes or raking the yard or going to church? Do you have any fun things you USED to do before you had kids? What would it take to make those things happen again? Could you do them with a lower budget, or by finding someone to watch your kids, or maybe even something where you could take the kids along? Make a list of some fun hobbies or activities that you and your husband would like to do and then start planning how you can make them happen! I realize some things I mentioned are very costly, like cruising, but there are also a million things you can do for low or no cost – think about things involving nature – pretty much always free! The important thing is to have FUN together – as a couple and as a family!

Please check out the other 31 dayers here.